Grade Level: 3 - 7
Hardcover: 384 pages
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books (March 26, 2019)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1481490656
ISBN-13: 978-1481490658
Praise for FRIENDROID
"A timely parable for this generation of digital natives." ―Kirkus
"Vaughan presents another noteworthy sf middle-grade offering peppered with mystery." ―Booklist
"For middle-grade readers who are ready to fight the power." ―Publishers Weekly
Stranger Things meets robots in this sweet story about an unlikely friendship between two boys—one human, one android.
Eric Young is an android, but he doesn’t know. He does know that he’s just moved to Ashland, so it’s important to make the right kind of friends—the kind that would be interested in skateboarding and the new Slick sneakers his Uncle Martin sends him.
Danny Lazio doesn’t have any friends, but he doesn’t care. Even if his classmates don’t accept him, he still has Land X, the online role play game that he’s actually really good at. But then Eric takes an interest in Land X, and suddenly Danny thinks he might have found a real friend…if he can figure out the mystery behind Eric’s sudden disappearances and strange lifestyle.
It becomes harder to ignore the weird events that happen only around Eric. But uncovering the secret behind Eric’s identity is an act that might cost them both as powerful forces soon move in around them.
This heartfelt story about friendship and what it means to be human is sure to tug at your soul—or your soul-chip if you’re like Eric.
You can purchase FRIENDROID at the following Retailers:
EXCERPT
Danny:
Saturday, October 20 (1316 words)
I met Slick
on Saturday, October 20, at the fund raiser for his dead sister. Slick didn’t
have a dead sister, or even a live one, but he didn’t know this at the time,
and neither did I.
Anyway, I
wasn’t supposed to go. I was meant to be spending the day with my dad. My
cousin Vito calls him “the person who made a biological donation to my
existence,” which is kind of a mouthful but way more accurate. I’m supposed to
see “Dad” every other weekend, but in the last year he’s only shown up three
times, so I wasn’t exactly surprised when Mom called him to see where he was
and he told her he wasn’t going to be able to make it. I knew that’s what he
was saying because Mom always walks away and starts whispering on the phone
when she’s mad at him. After a couple of minutes, she came back and passed the
phone to me.
“Hey, sorry,
son. I’m on my way to Kentucky. A friend of mine got a good tip on a horse, and
I couldn’t pass it up.”
My dad likes
to gamble on horses. He’s terrible at it. You’d think he’d have figured that
out by now.
“Sure,” I
said.
“I’ll make
it up to you.” “Whatever.”
“Watch your
mouth.” He paused. “How have you been?”
“Fine. You
forgot my birthday.”
“I did?
Shoot . . . I’ll get you whatever you want after my big win.”
“I won’t
hold my breath.”
I heard
something being slammed down hard. I hoped it was his head on a brick wall.
“You little . . . ,” he started saying.
I hung up.
Mom came
over and tried to give me a hug, but I shook her off me and went down to the
basement to work on the computer I was building. I felt bad—I know it’s not
Mom’s fault that he’s such a loser, but then again, she did choose to have a
child with the man, so it kind of is.
Mom said she
didn’t want to leave me home alone when I was upset, so she made me come with
her to the fund raiser. She wanted to go because it was raising money for
Ashland Hospital, which is where she works as a nurse, and because her friend
Annie had asked her to go. Annie also works at the hospital. I told Mom that a)
I wasn’t upset, and b) I didn’t work at the hospital so there was no need for
me to go, but then she gave me one of her looks—the one that means shut your
mouth, put your jacket on, and get in the car. Mom has a whole language she can
speak with just her face. Vito says it’s a mom thing—apparently they’re all
fluent in Face.
“Amore, come
on, cheer up. It’ll be fun,” said Mom as I sulked in the back seat of the car.
The car stopped at a red light, and she turned to look at me. “Who knows? Maybe
there’ll be some kids your age there.”
I rolled my
eyes and put my hood over my head.
Mom sighed.
Mom is
always trying to get me to make friends with other kids. Vito says to chill out
about it and that it’s a mom’s job to worry. I get that, but it doesn’t make it
any less annoying.
We got to
the fundraiser early as Mom told Annie that she’d help set up, even though she
didn’t know Slick’s parents.
“Remember,
be polite,” whispered Mom as we walked in to the church hall. “This must be
very hard for the family.”
I nodded.
“Okay, okay,” I said.
“You’re a
good boy,” she said. She kissed me on the top of my head and walked over to
join a group of adults. As I made my way over to the side of the room to find a
spot to hide, I saw Slick. We’d never spoken, but I recognized him—he was the
newest kid in my grade. I’d seen him hanging out with Luke and Tyler, which
said everything I needed to know about him. I put my hood over my head and went
to sit down in a corner, as far away from him as I could.
I took out
my phone to play Land X. I was close to completing the Stone-Cold Slayer quest
and had found the last thing I needed that morning—a gold- mirrored shield. Now
all I had to do was find Gorgon Gaia and destroy him, but Mom had other ideas.
“I want you
to meet someone,” said Mom, taking the phone out of my hand before I could stop
her.
I was so
mad. “MOM! I’m about to kill Gorgon Gaia!”
“Looks like
it’s Gordon’s lucky day, then,” she said. She switched my phone off and handed
it back to me.
“Gorgon, Mom,
not Gordon,” I said.
She ignored
me and pointed to Slick on the other side of the room. He was laying a stack of
posters onto a table. “His name’s Eric. His mom told me he’s just started at
your school. Do you know him?”
I nodded.
“He’s in my grade.” I knew where this was going. “Mom . . . I don’t want to
make friends with him. I’m fine. I’m happy. I have friends on here.”
I held up my
phone.
Mom sighed
loudly. “Those are not real friends. Now get up, or I’ll go and get him and
bring him over.”
I knew she’d
do it too.
“You don’t
know what he’s like,” I said, but she was already walking away.
“I’m
ignoring you,” she said in a kind of singing voice.
I kind of
hated my mom at that point.
She was
already introducing herself by the time I caught up with her.
“. . . so
lovely to meet you. I’m Maria Lazio, and this is my son, Danny. I think you and
Danny are in the same grade at school.”
“Yes, we
are,” said Eric/Slick. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Ms. Lazio.” Slick shook my
mom’s hand, and then he turned and smiled at me.
“Hi, Danny.”
I nodded.
“Hey.”
“I’m so
sorry about your sister,” said Mom. Until that point, I hadn’t realized that he
was the brother of the girl who had died. I felt kind of bad then.
Slick
smiled. “Thank you,” he said.
“I was
thinking you two might want to hang out today before the fund raiser starts,”
said Mom.
I rolled my
eyes.
“I’m sorry,
but I have to help get things ready,” said Slick.
“Danny would
love to help, wouldn’t you?” said Mom. “I have a system,” said Slick. He
pointed over to the table.
“I’m sure
Danny can pick it up quickly,” said Mom. “If you don’t mind?”
“He said he
has a system,” I said. I knew that my help wasn’t wanted, but, apparently, my
mom didn’t pick up on that.
“I don’t
mind,” said Slick. “I’ll show you, Danny.” “What a sweetheart,” said Mom. She
put her hands around my face and gave me a loud kiss on the cheek. “Have fun!”
“Mom!” I
said. I couldn’t believe she had kissed me in front of another kid.
Mom laughed.
“I’m going, I’m going,” she said. “My mom is so embarrassing,” I said when she
was gone. I wiped my cheek. “She always does that.” “Does what?” asked Slick.
“Gives me
kisses in front of people.” “Oh,” said Slick.
“It’s an
Italian thing,” I explained quickly. “Everybody kisses each other in Italy.”
Slick
nodded. “That makes sense—we’re not Italian, and my parents have never kissed
me.”
And that
right there is when my weirdo counter started on Slick. It went up pretty quick
after that.
Copyright
© 2019 by M.M. Vaughan
Photo Content from M.M. Vaughan
Monica loves writing after midnight, building cardboard cities and playing Lego with her daughter. She lives in London, UK.
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